To speak to a nurse about caring for your baby, contact the Family Health Information Line (FHIL) at 705-474-1400 ext. 5351 or email healthy.families@healthunit.ca.
Free Texting Program
Sign up to get two texts a week with science-based facts and activities to help your child learn and grow. For children under age three.
Visit TheBasicsNPS.org to learn more.
Our breastfeeding page will help you connect with support and provide information. We offer breastfeeding clinics in-person!
The Breastfeeding Matters Book is a breastfeeding guide available in 18 languages that can be viewed online or downloaded and printed.
Feeding Your Baby – Ontario Dieticians in Public Health
Our Feeding your baby page provides information on introducing solid foods, safety during feedings, allergies, and more!
Do you have a baby under the age of six months? The Health Unit wants to hear from you! We are doing a study to learn about how people feed their babies in the first six months. This will help us improve services for new parents and babies in our community. Learn more on our Infant Feeding Survey webpage.
Sleep Well, Sleep Safe for Baby: Healthy sleep tips, safety recommendations, and frequently asked questions regarding infant sleep.
Safe Sleep for Your Baby: Steps for safe sleep for every sleep by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Child Car Seat Safety: Parachute Canada’s webpage on car seat safety.
Supporting Baby's Growth and Development
Tummy Time: A webpage dedicated to tummy time: what it is, why it’s important, and what it can look like.
“Aim to achieve at least an hour of Tummy Time total per day by 3 months of age. This hour of Tummy Time can be broken up into smaller parts. From newborn age, start with a few minutes at a time and build up to longer sessions.” (Pathways.org - Tummy Time Tips)
Activities and Games: Babies play too! This webpage has a list to try with your baby, right from the beginning.
Try their activity “Lift and Look!” We like this activity because babies strengthen their vision, head movements, and neck and shoulder muscles. Extra bonus – they listen to and are comforted by your voice, their favourite sound!
5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return: Child-adult relationships that are responsive and attentive—with lots of back-and-forth interactions—build a strong foundation in a child’s brain for all future learning and development. This is called 'serve and return.'
“By taking small moments during the day to do serve and return, you build up the foundation for children’s lifelong learning, behavior, and health—and their skills for facing life’s challenges." (Center on the Developing Child - 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return)
The Connection Between You and Your Baby: A booklet looking at ways caregivers support and respond to their baby’s emotional needs.
“Even though babies can’t speak, they have ways of letting you know how they’re feeling. If you pay attention to these signs and act on them to comfort your baby, you will form a bond of trust.” (Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development - Parent-child Attachment)
Baby’s Physical Development: A chart that can be printed or viewed online to track and support your child’s physical, play, and speech development.
“Talk to baby every day to show that language is used to communicate.” (Pathways.org - Tips for Baby Development)
Caring for Yourself: Health Canada’s postpartum booklet describes how the birth of a baby is an adjustment for parents and describes ways of seeking support as well as taking care of yourself.
Tip: Nesting typically involves preparing yourself and your living space for the arrival of your baby. Before and after birth, continue to nurture your physical and mental well-being by focusing on another type of nest, NEST-S: Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, Time for self, and use of Supports.
Postpartum Mood Disorders: Our Postpartum Mood Disorders webpage explores mental health disorders that can occur during pregnancy and after the birth of a child.
Connect with the resources you need when you need it. You are not alone.
Pregnant, Postpartum, and Families with a Baby: Our mental health resource list for individuals who are pregnant or postpartum, and families with a baby.
It's okay to take care of yourself. It's part of parenting.
Play Groups for You and Your Baby
Ontario EarlyON Centres: Interactive drop-in programs for children and their families, from birth to six years of age.
Looking for something more? Other parenting groups may be available for support. Visit our playgroups list.
Family Health Information Line: Our phone and email service for parents (and parents-to-be) who have questions or are looking for more support.
Talk to us about pregnancy - whether planning a pregnancy or currently pregnant, breastfeeding (including breastfeeding clinic appointments), mental health during or after pregnancy, registering for online prenatal or parenting classes, child growth and development, feeding your baby, general parenting, and community resources.
Healthy Babies Healthy Children: This home visiting program is a free and voluntary service that can help you and your family navigate challenges around parenting.
Speak with us on the Family Health Information Line to see if this program is right for you!
Smoking, Vaping and Tobacco: Become smoke-free with these supports.
Quitting is a process that can be different for everyone.
Alcohol and Breastfeeding / La Leche League Canada: This webpage outlines what you should do if you are thinking about drinking alcohol while breastfeeding.
When you consume an alcoholic drink, the alcohol passes really quickly from your blood to your milk. Therefore the amount of alcohol in your blood is the same amount of alcohol in your milk. As your blood alcohol level decreases, so does your milk alcohol level.
Cannabis and Pregnancy to Parenting: All about reducing the risks to your baby and family; includes tips for pregnant individuals and new parents.
“Breastfeeding is still the healthiest choice for your baby. Until further information about the potential harms is available, it's recommended women stop using cannabis while they are pregnant, and while breastfeeding." (Risks of Cannabis on fertility, pregnancy, breastfeeding and parenting, 2019)
If you are pregnant or you have just welcomed a
new baby, this guide is for you!
